Dandy Shower

There are several portable shower kits on ebay comprising a 12v pump, shower head, on off button, tubing etc all for about £20. The pump can be placed in a water container full of warm water heated by kettle or pan . Probably need about 10 litres which will probably only need about 2 kettle fulls mixed with cold water. The container can be inside or outside the dandy with the hose routed to the dandy roof bar.

Then a shower tray. I want to come up with a folding shower tray with a curtain attached. The curtain can be suspended from the roof bars and have a velcro entrance to form a waterproof enclosure. The curtain should be attached to the inside of the shower tray. A simple LIDL shower curtain should do this for £3 with some old awning tubing for a frame round the top.

The shower tray should be deep and be able to hold all 10 litres of water so as to form a footbath as well. When done, this can be emptied into another container either by using a dinghy bailer or scoop made from an old plastic container, or a drain pipe leading to a container outside. The tray needs to be about 700mm x 700mm x 150mm high which is 73 litres. This can fit easily in the designer.

The only bit I'm stuck on at the moment is the shower tray arrangement. Maybe an inflatable children's paddling pool but I would like a better solution.

One of our neighbors had a pvc/fibreglass fabrication business, now works for someone else so can't help out ....... my point is could you find someone to make a bespoke tray. You may be surprised at how little they charge ..... we had 4 ornamental window shutters made for £100 ..... okay it was mates rates but a shower tray is far simpler and with less materials.

Some time ago a camping style shower appeared. It was a length of plastic tube with a footpump with a basic showerhead.To use it you stood in the washing up bowl (placed on the floor, not in the sink!) with the footpump and off you went.The pump and showerhead have long since disappeared but the plastic tube is still around being put to better use in my homebrew beer making!Cheers,DonJust remembered; the "showerhead" was a ring of tubing with holes drilled in it and you hung it round your neck. (probably so you could hang on to someone and not fall over whilst operating the footpump)Not sure if they ever really caught on.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I think this may do. A storage box 800 x 600 x 225 deep in extra strong plastic. That's shower tray size and has the depth to allow the curtain inside to stop any overspray. Could possibly put some weights in the bottom to the curtain to hold it in place.

I've had a couple of those shower gizmos to use for hair washing purposes at festivals. Both pumps failed after only a couple of uses so they're not reliable. That said, the price is well worth it for the rest of the components and if the principle works for your purposes, you could always change the pump for a Whale one in future.

I used a shallow tubtrug as a tray to catch the water - a similar size to the box you've found.

Have you considered using a toilet tent or a slightly larger 'utility' tent which would allow space for a small inflatable paddling pool, still allow room to stand and undress/dress and would do away with the need for shower curtain. After use pump water from pool back into container, for disposal, deflate pool and return tent to use for toilet and storage. It would also prevent any dampness from being inside the Dandy. Just a thought.

I had thought of a toilet tent but decided against it. We want on board facilities like a caravan. We're both in our 60's so too old for roughing it out in a tent especially the undressing and dressing. In a way it's a step down from using the site facilities.

At the moment I like Peridot's Tubtrug. I didn't know they made them that big.

I also need to get a better quality shower kit than the one I showed by the sound of it.

Also need to consider the effect on condensation inside, although with window open and warm it will probably be OK and soon dry

This thread has got me thinking about festival arrangements for this year.

I've decided to go 'off-grid' with one of the garden sprayer types. Reviews seem to suggest that its performance is acceptable but that it may require an intermediate pump up to maintain reasonable pressure.

Anyway, I've taken the plunge (sorry) and ordered one. I'll report findings once it has arrived.

Well I received the Hozelock shower and have had a chance to give it a try.

The construction is slightly different (and improved) compared to the photo above.

I was a little skeptical when I saw the shower head attachment. It's only around 35mm in diameter, with a single row of pin head nozzles around the circumference.

However it performs very well. A 5 litre fill provided for a good unhurried shower and the shower head gives a strong and effective spray. It is intended to be held and used close to the body, I don't think it would be so good suspended overhead like a traditional shower.

As expected, it was necessary to re-pressurise the sprayer half way through. The pump unit is quick and easy to use though - much better than similar garden sprayers I have used in the past.

I'm certainly very pleased with it. Its self-contained nature keeps it simple, quick, and effective which will be ideal for festival use.

Actually Peridot, you could fit a proper shower in the toilet compartment.

The front face of the toilet is nice and flat so a shower tray could be fitted in and sealed. It would need to be well supported on timber with a drain through the floor. A shower curtain could be fitted to two sections of rail to give a good overlap to protect the walls and door.

You can get an electric only water heater for £170 or if not on EHU you could pay more for a gas/electric one. You already have the pump and incoming water system. Fit a tee in the pipe to feed the water heater. Use a pressure switch and whale expansion unit to allow slow flow without the pump switching on and off constantly.

Run hot water pipe work to kitchen sink and washroom sink with tees for hot and cold to a shower mixer on the wall. The kitchen taps could be a mixer low down on the fixed cupboards and use the existing pipe to the kitchen tap. Similarly for the washroom basin and shower.

We had a piece of sponge matting in the washroom shower tray for when not showering. This acted as a carpet rather than step on the shower tray all the time when using the toilet etc.

If going with navvers idea why buy a water heater?A second Aquaroll or even just the one could be part filled with cold water with a couple of pans of hot water added to give the required temp.Some battery recharging might be necessary if multiple showers were required. In a normal no facility camp sites a daily drive might well be sufficient to recharge the battery but that's not going to happen when at a festival. Thoughts turn to a small solar panel then again my whole reasoning for not buying a heater was to not spend £100's on something that you only use twice a year.

Having an integrated shower sounds nice, but we generally stay on sites with facilities so it would be a lot of effort for something that would be seldom used. I'm also very wary of adding any more weight to the monster Destiny, particularly on the side of the kitchen and toilet. In fact my next job is to relocate the leisure battery from that side to the cupboard opposite, to try and balance things a bit better.

I've picked up one of the pop-up toilet tents to use as a shower cubicle. It was rather larger than I expected. As it has no guy ropes, I'll need to think about keeping it in a a sheltered position. A sudden gust of wind while in use could leave one feeling rather exposed